local forests, local people, local decisions

BC Wood Industry Trade Mission:

November 21, 2017

China a better partner than U.S.

By Tom Fletcher

BC Local News

November 20, 2017

B.C. Forests Minister Doug Donaldson is back from his first wood industry trade mission to China and Japan, an annual journey I was fortunate to go on last year. … Nanjing is the commercial centre of Jiangsu province, where the Chinese central government has ordered a pilot project to phase in wood and engineered wood, starting with roof trusses and pre-fabricated infill walls for concrete buildings. They’re working with B.C.-developed wood construction because “it’s energy efficient, it’s green, it’s light, it’s fast,” says Rick Jeffery, chair of the national industry group Canada Wood and a veteran of Asia trade. This is important in a vast country that is not only choked with pollution, it’s running low on limestone, a key component of concrete. …In a phone call from the Tokyo stop last week, Donaldson said once the government decides on an action, “things happen quickly in China.”